Uruguay (Home 2012-13)

Let’s cross the Rio de la Plata and look at a very recent revival of a former top nation: Uruguay. Being arguably the biggest surprise at the 2010 World Cup, the team subsequently went on to win the 2011 Copa America in impressive fashion. They seemed on the way to again join Argentina and Brazil as the top dogs in South America, but come 2012 it seemingly all fell apart again. What once seemed like safely securing a spot for Brazil 2014, now is all a bit in question after heavy defeats to Columbia, Argentina and Bolivia. And it all seems to be related to the switch from the previous to the recent jerseys. 😉 Although, the current version is actually quite nice.

Uruguay home jerseys are traditionally light blue with a white collar and white sleeve trims and so is this one. Gone is the shirt collar in favor of a round collar whose white trim is almost negligible. The entire shirt has vertical pinstripe inlays to give it a classic feel. The only break in that pattern is the strike-out area on the right shoulder. Since it is also in light blue, it is fair to ask why have it at all. Only to add some shine? The sleeve trims may be a tad too wide, but not a big deal. The crest is riding a bit too high and I do like that the number is centered and in black to tie in with the shorts. But the biggest question to me is: What is the puma doing in the center of the shirt when this space already is occupied by the number? Looks odd.

The back is plain as the front also featuring the inlays. Just below the collar you can read “uruguay” in white and Puma’s crooked font. Of course that font is also used for the black shirt printing. Not only does the font look odd, the name is printed in all lower-case – something Puma has done before, but I still don’t like it. I really wish Puma would use more visually pleasing fonts for their shirt printing.

I do like this jersey for its simplicity. It could have looked better with a shirt collar, but this is the modern style. Only the font and the odd placings of the strike-out and the puma on the front are bothersome.

My rating: 8/10 stars.

How do you rate this shirt?